Chapter 80: The Hand of Death

Geldern was a nice medium-sized city with about 10.000 permanent residents.

It was a warm morning in the middle of spring and people were going on with their daily chores.

Blacksmiths were banging on metal, carpenters were shaping wood and merchants were selling goods with smiles on their faces.

To an outside observer, it would appear quite calm and peaceful, but that was just an illusion.

People were getting more worried and restless by the day. Some of their friends, family members, and even just acquaintances with which they chatted and drank at the bar, have gone missing in recent weeks.

Even some groups of warriors from the Warrior's Guild didn't come back from the mission. It gave people a sense of uncertainty, pressure, and even panic.

These were hard times for the citizens.

After the recent battle, Gerald was in a coma. It already lasted for almost ten days, and he was still not waking up.

He was currently being taken care of by the nurses in the infirmary at one of the Guild's facilities. It was quite roomy in there since it wasn't often that people needed medical help.

Most people were quite healthy and any wound could be taken care of with a potion. Only extremely severe cases were handed over to the infirmary, where the Guild's alchemists and doctors would help the patients recover.

During these ten days, Gerald was in a state of limbo. He was completely unresponsive to external stimuli like touch, sound, or light, and the head alchemist Andimont already considered him a dead man.

It was just a matter of time.

But, of course, the Guildmaster insisted that every person under his care should be taken care of, especially in these troubled times, so his people could only work diligently keeping Gerald alive for as long as they could.

Finally, on the morning of the eleventh day, Gerald opened his eyes for the first time. At that moment his head felt like it was filled with fog and his thoughts were muddled and messy. He looked around the room with confusion for a while, before falling unconscious once again.

He woke up again a few hours later, and this time, when a nurse saw him trying to move, she quickly went to get the head alchemist Andimont, who then went with the news to the Guildmaster.

Soon, many people came and gathered around the bed on which Gerald was resting.

There were a few people that Gerald was familiar with and some that he has never seen before.

The first to speak was the alchemist. He bent his back to come close and asked, "Hello young man, how do you feel? Can you move your legs?"

Gerald shook his head in confusion, "What? Uh, I think so…" Although his whole body was in pain, he gathered some strength and lightly shook his feet.

"Hmm, yes, that's good… I was worried since your spine was damaged severely, it's honestly a miracle you even survived with all that blood loss! The gods must think favorably of you." The alchemist complimented with a smile.

'Honestly, I think they are trying to kill me, not help me,' Gerald thought in return but didn't say it out loud. Instead, he looked around and asked, "Where am I, and who are you?"

"Oh yes, of course," the alchemist slapped himself on the forehead. "How rude of me, let me introduce myself. My name is Andimont and I'm the head alchemist here in the Guild. You were brought here in a terrible state eleven days ago. I'm still honestly surprised you managed to pull through."

"Enough chit-chat," The Guildmaster spoke with his powerful voice and stepped closer. His towering body, built like a mountain made everyone else around him look like small children.

"Gerald, lad, I'm the Master of this Warrior's Guild here in Geldern and I need to ask you a few questions regarding what happened that day. If now's not the right time we can speak later, but it's really important, so if you could…"

Gerald closed his eyes and exhaled deeply, his thoughts traveling back to the last moments he could remember, "Ah, yes… That stupid lizard... How can I help, Guildmaster?"

"Actually, I'm not interested in the battle with the Earth Dragon. I already questioned Sera about the details. I'm interested if you saw something else, any clues as to why that beast was there?"

Gerald opened his eyes and looked at the Guildmaster seriously, "You mean like that woman? The lizard's master?"

Guildmaster's eyes almost popped out of his sockets, "What?! There was actually someone there? Can you describe it in more detail?" He did not expect to receive such an answer, but since he did, he had to get as much information as he could.

Gerald shook his head, "I can't say much as she was too far. I only know she was wearing brown armor and was riding on a Warg, I think. She communicated with the lizard through whistles…"

Guildmaster frowned profoundly and turned back to his soldier commander friend, "Javiar, what do you think, could it be her?"

The guy just shrugged his shoulders saying, "Brown Fang the Beastmaster? It's possible… She is the only one I know of that would fit that description."

"Bastards!" The Guildmaster squeezed his fists tightly and his face washed over with anger as he showed his tightly clenched teeth.

"Excuse me," Gerald weakly called, "Who is this Brown Fang you are speaking of?"

"Righ, you don't know yet... Might as well get you up to date with the news…" The Guildmaster's expression softened and he pulled a chair close to sit down.

"You probably already know, but sir Rulgo is one of our men, he was tasked to go undercover to deliver taxes to the capital. Since you took that mission you know of the people that attacked you… They were not real bandits…"

Gerald made a doubtful expression, "What do you mean they weren't? They tried to rob us, if they weren't bandits, then what were they?"

The Guildmaster frowned and scratched his cheek, "Well, what I'm trying to say is… They aren't your usual bandits. We came to know that they are a part of the Blood Sun Viper. Brown Fang is one of the leaders. Just the attacks that happened last week number at least a dozen in the kingdom. And that's just the confirmed ones!"

"Many people just simply vanished when traveling between the cities. This, of course, wasn't anything unusual, but the amount greatly increased in the last month. You were probably a target of one of these attacks when you got attacked by that Earth Dragon."

Lightly gasping for air, Gerald sunk in deep contemplation, his injured face frowned as anger washed over him, "Blood Sun Viper!"

A heavy hand landed on his shoulder, it was the Guildmaster, "Listen, lad, I know it must be hard for you after such a blow, especially since you are still so young. You just need to focus on recovery slowly for now."

"The Guild is prepared to purchase the entire Earth Dragon from you for fifty gold. We already transported it to the city and it was also already processed. Otherwise, if you plan to keep it..."

Gerald interrupted him and shook his head, "No, no, I don't want to have anything to do with that animal. I'll gladly take the money."

The Guildmaster laughed loudly and patted Gerald on the shoulder, "Good, good! My assistant will bring you the money shortly. You just rest here and recover in peace." With those words, he stood up and left the room. Javiar also quickly followed after.

Gerald was honestly somewhat confused as to why he received so much attention and goodwill. It was not something he was used to.

"Hmm, well, I should say a few words…" the head alchemist stated as he turned to face Gerald.

"I know it must be hard on you, losing your hand at such a young age, but don't give up on life just yet. Although your time as a warrior ended prematurely, there is still so much you can do…" Andimont kept on speaking but Gerald completely tuned him out.

'Hand? Did I lose a hand? This had to be a sick joke, I can clearly feel…' He struggled to move under the heavy blankets. His wounds had yet to completely heal and each movement was quite painful.

The bandages also impeded his movement, but eventually, he gathered enough strength to take out his hands. The right hand was covered in bandages in many places, but it was clearly still there and he could move his fingers without a problem.

But when he turned his head to the left, there was nothing there!

Gerald's breathing quickened, and his heart began to beat strongly, as panic set in. At first, he didn't want to believe his eyes, but when he touched where his hand used to be, the reality started to set in.

Under the left shoulder, a fifteen-centimeter stump covered in bandages was all that was left. The hand that killed the Earth Dragon was no more.

In the explosion that he triggered, his hand was first to disappear.

Head alchemist Andimont noticed his reaction and said, trying to comfort him, "I am terribly sorry young man, but there was nothing we could have done. I asked the people that brought you in, but they could not locate your remaining hand."

"But look at the bright side, you are still alive and well. With the money from the Earth Dragon, you will be able to take it easy for the years to come, there is no need to lose hope. Life is too short to give up so early."

Gerald didn't answer him, he just stared forward blankly and without blinking. His face was devoid of any emotion and it seemed like he didn't even hear the alchemist speak.

Andimont sighed and shook his head. He had seen that face many times before. Incidents like this one didn't happen too often, but that didn't mean they were that rare either.

Some people recovered and regained the will to live, while some lost it completely, eventually refusing to even eat or drink. It was tragic.